First Sounds Heard

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foreverlearning

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This is my first post on AllDeaf. I've been lurking for a few months and finally decided to join. :wiggle: I'm hearing and I'm here mainly because I'm interested in learning about being deaf/hoh and the Deaf culture. :)

Anyways, on to my question/thread topic. (I wasn't sure if this should go in THIS area or the CI and hearing aid area... you can move it if I'm wrong.) I'm interested in what it's like to be deaf or VERY hoh your whole life/long time and then hear again. A few months ago (March 11th, I got the email) Jamie Berke (about.com) was explaining what it was like "Going Live With a Cochlear Implant". I found it really really interesting and I've been wondering about other experiences similar this. Did you recognize voices? Was music what you expected? What about birds chirping and cars on the highway and things like that?

:ty:
 
Well, I think I might've found what I was looking for anyways, haha. The "CI Moments" and "HA Moments". Durr. And I thought I looked hard enough before!

Whoops? :)
 
Someone who has been deaf or very hoh their entire life cannot "hear again" with a CI. They can only hear for the first time. Their results will be very, very different from someone who had hearing and then lost it.
 
jillio said:
Someone who has been deaf or very hoh their entire life cannot "hear again" with a CI. They can only hear for the first time. Their results will be very, very different from someone who had hearing and then lost it.
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Sorry, I meant " ...to be deaf or VERY hoh your whole life/long time and then hear (again, if you were able to hear previously). I'm very new to the idea of a CI and didn't realize that it was really NOTHING like a HA, that it really is in the brain rather than the ears. Thanks for bringing that up, Jillio. I really DO have tons to learn. :)
 
Yeah, that's right.

If a person could hear before, but lost his/her hearing... then later got CI; that person would likely recognize the sound heard again as soon as the implant took effect. "Whoa... that's the first time I've ever heard someone's voice in a very long time!" (This is because that person knows what a voice sounds like.)

However, if it was a person who has never heard anything before... then it would be difficult to distinguish what the noise was coming from. So, if the person got implanted... then watched the doctor talk, that person would immediately think... "So, that's what my doctor's voice sounds like!" If that person kept his/her eyes closed and then the doctor talked... that person wouldn't know what that noise was.
 
VamPyroX said:
Yeah, that's right.

If a person could hear before, but lost his/her hearing... then later got CI; that person would likely recognize the sound heard again as soon as the implant took effect. "Whoa... that's the first time I've ever heard someone's voice in a very long time!" (This is because that person knows what a voice sounds like.)

However, if it was a person who has never heard anything before... then it would be difficult to distinguish what the noise was coming from. So, if the person got implanted... then watched the doctor talk, that person would immediately think... "So, that's what my doctor's voice sounds like!" If that person kept his/her eyes closed and then the doctor talked... that person wouldn't know what that noise was.
Click to expand...

Even for someone who had sound right before the surgery, there's a pretty significant lag, sometimes. It took me a few days before I could make any sense out of it; even then, it didn't sound natural for a long time.
 
ismi said:
Even for someone who had sound right before the surgery, there's a pretty significant lag, sometimes. It took me a few days before I could make any sense out of it; even then, it didn't sound natural for a long time.
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It gets easier each day. I can now talk to someone with my back turned. Sound is sounding more natural each day.
 
vallee said:
It gets easier each day. I can now talk to someone with my back turned. Sound is sounding more natural each day.
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Right, and I've hit that stage myself. I'm just saying that Vampy's characterization of the results as being immediate is not what most people experience.
 
I am Deaf from birth. I got my first old fashion big hearing aid that would hold from a pocket in front of my chest. I could hear the sounds on my left ear only. I am totally Deaf on my right ear, not good for hearing aid. When I step outside from the audiologist's office into the sidewalk. I was very surprise to hear all kinds of noises like cars making the noise, people talking, other kinds of noises in the city. I really don't like the noises at all and try to take off my hearing aid but mom want me to keep wearing it, so I was force to wear it. Now that I got use to it, but sometimes when no one is around I took my hearing aid off and feel better about it. Being Deaf is sweet and quiet and I love it. :cool:
 
I forgot to tell you how old I was when I got my first hearing aid. I was eight and half almost nine years old. This was in 1954 when that occur with a new hearing aid at the time. :Oops:
 
ismi said:
Even for someone who had sound right before the surgery, there's a pretty significant lag, sometimes. It took me a few days before I could make any sense out of it; even then, it didn't sound natural for a long time.
Click to expand...
Yeah. It takes time for our brains to adjust to the nerves working again.

It's like a person wearing special goggles that redirects their vision. I've seen it done with a person throwing a football. Normally, he can throw the ball straight towards the person in front of him. They give that guy special goggles that redirects his vision by a few degrees. Now, when he throws the football... his aim is off. After a while, he gets used to his "new vision". (Not a perfect example, but close...) ;)
 
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